Wrestling Against Myself (48 page)

“Quit that,” Dave said sharply. “They weren't talking about us.”

“You're right,” Ted said with a huge grin. “We're the most unboring people in the school.”

“You're incorrigible,” Dave said.

“You're just upset because I use you as the setup guy for my punch lines.”

“Dave is playing it straight, trying something new?” Carl said a bit tongue in cheek.

Dave and Ted shot Carl a look which brought the conversation to a close.

The school day was over. Mondays seem to last forever and it took forever for the final bell to sound. Even though he was eager to leave, Antonio allowed the class to file out the door ahead of him before he got up from his desk. Once the coast was clear, he gathered up his textbooks and left.

The Florida sun was hot, even though it was September, the season didn't change to autumn. It was ninety degrees, too hot for Antonio to remain in his Varsity Jacket. He took it off and slung it over his shoulder as he watched students rushing from one area to another.

“So much for this big attack on Courtney,” Tony thought as he made note how ordinary things were. “Let's hope it stays that way.”

Even as he went to the parking lot nothing seemed askew. There were still cars jockeying for position as four lanes of vehicles tried to make it out the one exit. Tony was glad he wasn't sitting in his car waiting to leave and baking in the heat. He had A/C in his car, but if he sat with it on, the car would stall and never did like starting up right away.

He could see his maroon Firebird. It looked unmolested, outside of having the windows open. Courtney was already there, which meant she wasn't abducted or stuffed into a locker somewhere. All signs pointed to an uneventful day and Tony was relieved.

Antonio wasn't in any hurry to get to his car, walking casually as the parking lot emptied before him. He didn't want to keep his passenger waiting, but he didn't want to be stuck in a car going nowhere at the same time. He made it to the Firebird without fuss. He scanned the parking lot as he walked around the back of his car, just to see if any trouble looming, but the large pickup he was looking for was gone.

“Hey there,” Tony said as he settled behind the wheel.

“Hi,” Courtney replied without her usual enthusiasm.

Antonio knew something was wrong, usually Courtney brightened up whenever he joined her. “Something happen?”

“I don't want to talk about it.” Courtney folded her arms and pouted, sinking lower in her seat and stewing in her misery.

“I can respect that.” Tony started the car. “Sometimes you don't want to talk about stuff, no matter how wonderful the person sitting next to you is.”

Courtney didn't respond. No smirk, no smile, no light chuckle, no indication his attempt to lighten up the mood had any affect at all.

Tony backed out of his parking spot and made his way to the exit without saying a word. It was a trick he learned from his mother about getting people to talk. 'If you keep asking questions when a person says they don't want to talk,' his mom advised on several occasions, 'the more they aren't going to answer them just on principle. As soon as you clam up and give them time to sulk, they'll open up on their own.'

Tony was halfway to Courtney's house before the method began to work.

“Why do guys have to be such jerks?” Courtney lamented.

“Are we talking about something I did?”

“No!” Courtney said with anger in her voice.

“Good. I hate being in trouble.” Antonio knew he was making light of the situation and wished he hadn't. Turning to laughter was one of the ways he dealt with stress, but he knew it wasn't appreciated. His levity resulted in Courtney clamming up again until he made his way into her subdivision.

“I'm talking about Peter,” Courtney opened up again.

Tony was afraid something happened on his watch, now it was time to find out the severity. “What did he do?”

“I don't know if he did anything,” Courtney said bitterly. “But I bet dollars to donuts that he did it.”

Antonio had the fight the urge to ask the girl what happened, figuring the result would be more silence. The girl had to reveal it to him on her own, but time was short as he pulled into her driveway.

“Do you know what he did? I'm sure it made its way around the school.”

Tony put the car into park. “I haven't heard anything. What did he do?”

“That jerk broke into my locker,” Courtney said, her eyes welling with tears.

“He stole from you?” Tony was surprised. Peter had his flaws, but stealing was one of the things that the bully stayed away from. Even when he was picking on those smaller than him, he was never known to extort.

“Worse!”

Tony was afraid of what was next, but the list of what someone could do to a locker was endless.

“That jerk broke into my locker and pasted up a bunch of pictures of naked women. Disgusting.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he's a jerk,” Courtney said flatly, as if the reason was self evident.

“He put porn in your locker?”

“Porn, naked women, pictures of girls private parts.”

“Strange.”

“He also left a big note for when I opened the locker.”

Maybe the note would explain things, Tony thought, because he was at a loss. “I take it the note didn't say nice things.”

“Only five words.”

Tony counted on his hand possible five word notes as the girl shut down again. The best he could come up with was 'you should be a porn star' but when he counted again he was a word over. He figured the note might have something to do with that effect, but it didn't make any sense.

“You want to know what that jerk wrote?”

Tony nodded; afraid anything he said would only drive the girl back into silence.

“He wrote, 'this will never be you.'”

Tony was sympathetic. “That was uncool of him.”

“Totally uncool. Why can't people leave me alone?” Courtney's tears began to fall. “I already know how I'm not like the other
girls; I don't need that jerk reminding me.”

Tony wanted to wrap his arms around the girl, pull her in close to him and tell her everything would be okay, but the center console impeded his progress. “You're still a girl.”

“I know that, but why can't people except that?”

“I don't know. Maybe because they can't imagine going through what you're going through. Most guys are pretty attached to the macho image. You know, don't show any emotion, never complain when your hurt, be tough as nails, all that nonsense. I bet the other girls are sympathetic. It would be easier for them to imagine how they would feel if they had boy parts and were in your predicament.”

The lengthy explanation didn't settle the girl down. It did stop the tears, but Courtney's face turned hard with anger. “He's wrong.”

“I know he is, he shouldn't have done that.”

“That's not what I meant,” Courtney seethed, making Antonio feel like he was making the situation worse. “I can have a body like them, and I will, I'm too young for the surgery right now, no matter how much I beg for it.”

“I hope you aren't thinking about posing for those kinds of pictures,” Tony said, trying to steer the Courtney away from her anger.

It didn't work; the girl shot daggers at him with her eyes.

“Sorry.”

“I want to know how that idiot got into my locker in the first place,” Courtney fumed. “The school was supposed to change the locks on the lockers so nobody but you knew the combination. I seriously doubt that moron is a safe cracker.”

“There are other ways to get into the locker without having the combination,” Tony informed.

“Really, how?”

Antonio took a deep breath. “Behind the lock there is a little key hole in case the principal or someone needs to get into the locker.”

“They can raid my locker any time they want but they can't keep a jerk from putting smut up when I'm not looking.”

“I don't think they planned it that way, and it sucks that he did that to you. I'm sorry it happened.”

“It's not your fault.” Courtney settled herself down. “By the way, to answer your earlier question
, no, I'm not planning on being in porno magazines. I'm not that kind of girl.”

“I'm glad to hear it.”

“I just want to be a normal girl like every other girl at the school.”

Antonio took Courtney by the hand. “Let me tell you something my mom told me a long time ago. Normal is a myth. Everyone is unique. You're unique too, and that's what I like about you.”

“I'm more unique than most,” Courtney said sourly.

“Don't be bitter.” Tony squeezed the girl's hand. “Bitterness has one job, to destroy the person who is bitter. You're right, Peter is a jerk, but don't let him ruin who you are.”

Courtney stared down at Antonio holding onto her hand and sat still in silent reflection. “You're right,” she finally said. “I can't let that jerk define who I am, no matter how much he wants to.”

“That's my girl.”

A smile finally crept across Courtney's face.

“There's that smile,” Tony said as he gave one last squeeze of Courtney's hand and then let go before his palm got too sweaty.

“You're a great guy, Antonio, thanks,” Courtney said as she opened up her door.

“Thanks, spread the word.”

Courtney giggled and then leaned in and gave Antonio a peck on the cheek. “Thanks for making me feel better,” she said in a rush and then bolted from the car as if it were on fire.

Tony watched as the girl sprinted to her front door and disappeared into the house.

“I guess there are worse rewards,” Antonio said to himself as he backed out of the driveway.

Tony got to school especially early on Tuesday, even considering he had to show up for prayer meeting. He wanted to check by Courtney's locker to make sure no surprises waited for her.

It was eerie walking through the empty corridors. Tony could almost hear the sounds of students from the day before, as if the halls were haunted, not by ghosts, but by memories. He made his way to building B-2 and noticed the door was propped open. He turned the corner sharply, expecting to catch someone in a devious act. Not even a wayward piece of paper awaited him.

He noticed something at Courtney's locker
. From down the hall he couldn't make out what it was. “Would you people just quit it already,” Tony said loudly, hoping whoever the prankster was would hear him. Tony envisioned whoever put what was dangling in front of the locker was hiding nearby, hoping to catch the girl's reaction when she discovered their next insult. It only made sense to the teen. He scanned the hallway closely to see if he could see shadows under doors or movement behind the windows of the doors on the other end of the hallway. All was still.

Tony made it to the locker. A small baby doll with a noose around its neck hung in front of Courtney's locker, swaying in a breeze that could not be felt.

“Really?” Tony said in anger and frustration. “This is what you're reduced to, making idle threats to a girl who couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Ashamed!”